[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Mikejoed

As a keen historian I am disappointed and extremely bemused at the seemingly callous way that grave stones from former church yards have been removed. I understand that in the recent past St James Parish church in Accrington ended its burial policy and its former residents [corpses] were transferred to Christchurch; with the exception of a handful. Records describe the remains being in the church's vault but I have asked people who attend the church and ministers where it is and they say there is no vault. An old Accrington newspaper report states that most of the coffins were in good repair and able to be relocated. Only one, that of thomas Hargreaves was broken and that was re-encased and remained in the vault where it lay! Look at any old photos of the church and you can see the number of gravestones there used to be at St James.

The same applies to Christchurch. I find it unbelievable that the graves were uprooted and a children's playground created over the area
When I broached the subject with the present minister he was very quick to say that everything was done according to the law and that records of the deceased would have been transferred to Lancashire County records office in Preston. What gets me is the fact that the funds for building churches like Christchuirch came from generous benefactors whose memory and munificence one would expect to be respected. Having no doubt paid a fee to be buried in the church's grave yard, simply because they no longer have any family left in the vicinity they feel they can discard them as they please. OK, so the records may be at Lancashire County records office but where are the headstones? Had they have been left around the edges of the church grounds at least ancestors looking for past relatives could see some evidence of their existence on site. I just think the churches have acted disgracefully and without any respect for their former benefactors and church members.

Again, as with St James, on old photos of Christchurch you can see the number of grave stones towards the rear of the church, where the play area is now but where would they have gone? Surely not destroyed

No reburials have ever taken place at Christ Church, I've lived in the area for 80 years, all the burials in Christ Church, which was full years ago, have been recorded, the Vicar lent me the 3 books of burial records, which I indexed. With the aid of Atarah holding one end of a tape measure, and numbers marked on the surrounding walls, I was able to draw a plan of the Church yard, and all the grave sites. No bodies have been exhumed either. As for St James, don't know of any exhumations there either, some years ago some one stole the map of the grave yard from a book in Accy Library, with the aid of a photograph I was able to draw a new one, most of the grave stones were just moved to form a path way round the church yard. The only reburials in the past 50 years were the Oak St Congregationalist, they were reburied in Accy Cem. The other one was the old Macpelah on Hyndburn Rd. Jack Broderick & I spent two days filming them, not all the remains from there were reburied, some just had bags of lime tipped in, and recovered, quite a lot were moved to Accy Cem. Most of the grave markers in Macpelah were taken to New Lane Ossy, but several were cracked by the bulldozer drivers ignoring the requests to preserve them. Atarah & I cleared all the gravestones in Macpelah some 30 years ago, and I photographed them all.
Retlaw.